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STEN MKII Wraparound Body


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Hello, could someone help me identify the production year of the STEN in the photos?

It seems to be exactly the same with this one

It has a wraparound body unlike most STENs.

It has a broad arrow inside a U which means it must have been in South Africa like the STEN of the video as well.

 

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Im a big fan of the Mk2 Sten and I wasn't aware of the wrap around one piece of sheet metal version so thanks for your post you learn something new every day.

Can't help you to identify the year though bit it appears that you have that now so all good.

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Im a big fan of the Mk2 Sten and I wasn't aware of the wrap around one piece of sheet metal version so thanks for your post you learn something new every day.

Can't help you to identify the year though bit it appears that you have that now so all good.

how good do you think the condition is? I know it needs to be sand sprayed and painted

I also need to warm up the barrel to take it out because it's stack because of the dirt and rust etc

there are also a few missing parts like the trigger axis pin and the smaller spring of the trigger mechanism but they were kinda easy to make

and also missing the two screws that hold the trigger mechanism protector in place

https://imgur.com/a/nJghqMf

 

get a copy of laidler,s book the stem machine carbine, will answer your questions,, for whats its worth, the wrapped sten mk2 were very defective and recalled to be scrapped so fewsurvived they are very scarce today, just sayn

what's interesting to me is that this sten I have in my hands appears to be the same with the video I mentioned in my post and since I am from Greece, they were probably assembled around the same period

I mean that if this sten didn't up in the hands of my grandpa, it would probably be sent to Cyprus like the one in the video before and during Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.

Edited by axouu
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Quite a few of theses wrap around STENs survived the chop, granted many were chopped but these were in British service as it was a British recall. Any foreign supplied guns werent recalled so you will find foreign markings such as the South African U. I would estimate I see maybe 1 in 25 are surviving wrap around Mk2s.

 

I also dont believe they were a defective design as such, more that they werent as strong as a normal Mk2 and if you dropped or gave it a hard use, the trigger housing to casing would deform. Hence the second version with the reinforcing strap.

 

If you havent worked it out yet, the Trigger housing cover requires 2 x 2BA round head screws identical to the mag catch screw.

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It reinforces the selector hole and increases the the thickness of the metal. If you imagine on a normal Mk2 STEN the thickness of the drawn tube is much less than the thickness of the trigger housing plates. As the wraparound is formed from one sheet of uniform thickness steel, the tube has the same thickness as the trigger housing plates. So the additional washers bring the thickness to approx the same as the separate trigger housing plates.
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I should have explained a little better. The selector is a standard item to fit all marks of STEN. If the plate thickness wasnt of the correct size, the selector would be sloppy and probably wont work as it should. The washers bring the thickness of the steel plate to the correct dimensions and reinforce the hole. They arent meant to strengthen the whole trigger plate. Ive a feeling that they had pins in a few places to hold the thin trigger plates in the correct spacing. I used to have a few of these but sold them on. I wish Id kept one now as its a hole in the collection.
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That makes a lot more sense. Thanks.

 

And I've got the same "problem" with a 1st gen Colt SAA that I sold 35 years ago, thinking I could always get another one. Because back then you could. Yet I still haven't. It's like the classic Whitman folder that has every buffalo nickel hole filled, except 1.

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